Sheriff gets $30,000 to staff the Arnold

Franklin County commissioners on Tuesday will approve giving Sheriff Zach Scott $30,000 in
overtime needed to staff the Arnold Sports Festival in March.

About 20-22 members of the sheriff's bomb squad and SWAT units will provide security at the
event which runs the first four days of March, said Dave Masterson, the sheriff's finance director.
On-duty deputies will also provide security at the event.

Commissioners did not include overtime in the sheriff's budget to staff special events this year
as part of their budget agreement with Scott, who wanted to increase his $85 million budget to $98
million to beef up SWAT and court operations. Scott said he needed more funds to provide the
"necessary amount of public safety."

Scott, who took over as sheriff in late June after the death of his predecessor Jim Karnes, had
to ask commissioners for an additional $9.4 million last year in order to fund his office the last
six weeks of the year. County Administrator Don Brown said Karnes hired more deputies than what was
budgeted in 2011 and did not curb overtime costs.

Commissioners were concerned Scott would overspend this year and threatened to put the new
sheriff on quarterly spending allotments in order to keep costs in line with their approved budget,
but backed off in December when Scott agreed to live within his $85.3 budget.

Scott said he would need additional funding throughout the year in order to provide security for
the Arnold Sports Festival and other special events like Red, White & Boom.